Snowy Christmas

This year's Christmas was a little different for us--two days before Christmas we had to take my husband to the ER, one side of his face had gone numb and we were concerned. We later found out that he was suffering from Bell's Palsy, something my dad had a few years ago, so we were pretty familiar with it. So Christmas was a little hard this year and somewhat discouraging. We have been trying to make the most of it, and are trudging on moving forward, but needless to say, Christmas just wasn't the same at our house this year.

So instead of posting pictures from Christmas this year, I pulled some from last year, when it actually snowed Christmas Eve, well into the early hours of Christmas Day. It was a snow white Christmas, the first in Tulsa for many years. We ventured out to play in the snow last year, and Simon (our dog) loved it!

So I used a few pictures from last year's snowy Christmas to make a layout in MDS this year. Looking at these pictures make me smile thinking back on those memories. We are looking forward to moving ahead in 2011.

Happy New Year to all of my wonderful friends and readers! Hope it's the best yet!

Winterfest MDS

Since I've been on vacation for two weeks, I have had the chance to play around with My Digital Studio quite a bit, and I'm really enjoying learning all of the neat things that you can do with it!

Mike and I recently tried out a local Winterfest here in downtown Tulsa, went ice skating, the whole bit. It ended up being a little more cheesy than we'd expected and more small scale than we'd prepared for, so we got a hot chocolate and drove around town looking at Christmas lights. It ended up being a great night and I took a few pictures to remember the evening and used those for my inspiration for this MDS layout.

Occasions Mini Sneak Peak Pt. 3

I'm turning 30 in January and I am really excited...not that I'm turning 30 (although I don't mind that part) but excited for my birthday. I love celebrating and it's always a great time to get friends and family together. Since it is a milestone Birthday, I'm planning something a little nicer for my celebration and will have an evening of dinner and dancing with friends. I am making my own center pieces (which I will show you closer to time and when they are complete)...When I saw the new Petal Cone bigz die to run through the Big Shot in the Occasions Mini Catalog, I thought it would make great party favors to lay on the tables at my birthday celebration. Here's one that I created to play around with. It's pretty simple--just Basic Black card stock with a small Real Red flag. I filled it with red candies to bring out the red color.

I will probably tweak them a little before the actual celebration, but wanted to share this one with you anyway.

Occasions Mini Sneak Peak Pt. 2

Today's Occasions Mini catalog sneak peak features two brand new items: a birthday stamp set "Bring on the Cake," which is chalk full of birthday sentiment stamps, and a cupcake punch! Angels are singing everywhere at the sight of this delightful punch. I only used part of the punch, but it comes with a candle and cherry to top off the icing as well.

Using the many marvelous Stampin' Write markers makes coordinating your cards so easy! I used Melon Mambo and Daffodil Delight to color in the Birthday sentiment.

Occasions Mini Sneak Peak Pt. 1

With December nearing its end and the New Year approaching, that can only mean two things: 1) A new mini catalog is coming (January 4), and 2) Sale-a-Bration is just around the corner!

I have a few sneak peek items that preview some of the new product from the Occasions Mini Catalog that will begin January 4 and run through April 30. After playing in my craft room all week last week (I've been on vacation!), I have lots of projects that I am excited to share with you.

Without further adieu, here is my first sneak peek which features the "XOXO" stamp set, which is available in wood mount or clear mount. A couple rows of rhinestone jewel accents help spice up this sweet Valentine card.

Frosty the Snowman

We've all seen these little Snowman treat bags floating around-they are so cute! I made a batch of them up this week for the members of my Stamp Club for Christmas. I filled each one with some hot cocoa packets and some Christmas candy.

This uses the Fancy Favor die and the Top Note die, which are my two favorite dies for the Big Shot machine. There are so many endless possibilities using just these two dies! Love them!

My first attempt

I have a confession to make:

I purchased My Digital Studio, Stampin' Up!'s digital scrapbooking software, about a year and a half ago, and I recently just opened the packaging for the first time and loaded it onto my computer. I think the idea of learning a brand new software product was overwhelming to me, and quite honestly my interest level was pretty low. The only reason that I purchased it was because the demos who attended convention last year were able to get it for half price--STEAL! And I knew some day I was going to wish I had purchased it at that great price.

So last night I sat down at the computer and gave it a shot at creating my first scrapbook layout. I was so surprised at how EASY it was!! And I was surprised at how much content came already installed on the program--I thought I was going to have to invest more money buying more downloads. Now, you CAN buy additional downloads of stamp sets, background papers, embellishments, etc, but there is enough in the original software to keep you busy if you are leery of investing a lot more money into it. And downloads are CHEAP! Most that I've seen range from 95 cents to $9.95.

So, without further adieu, here is my first attempt at creating a scrapbook layout in My Digital Studio. I'm sold--if you are having doubts like I was, don't hesitate any longer! It is a great way to get caught up on scrapbooking if you are as far behind as I am! It took me about 20 minutes to whip this up...as I learn the program, my speed will pick up, and so will yours!

Snowflake Card

You may remember last year when I did the 12 Weeks of Christmas projects, this treat bag that I made using the "Serene Snowflakes" stamp set and a brown paper bag. This year I created a Christmas card using the same layout but changing the colors to Real Red and Old Olive. A few rhinestone accents and some Dazzling Diamonds give it some of the sparkle that I love for Christmas time.

Peek-a-Boo

I just love the reindeer from the "Holiday Lineup" stamp set. When you see Rudolph's face, that is exactly the face I make when I look at this stamp set. :D

I have wanted to create a "peek-a-boo" (my description, not a professional one, ha!) card for some time, so this is the card we created at a workshop I did this week.

More milk please?

This is another mini milk carton that I created to use for a demonstration at a workshop this week. I used the Deck the Halls DSP for the base and Cherry Cobbler for the accent pieces. The word "Merry" was stamped in Cherry Cobbler three times using the stamp-off technique. A little pearl accent was enough to jazz up this adorable little milk carton, and used a little paper clip from the library clip assortment to hold the carton closed.

Merry Christmas Retro

Today's card layout was inspired by Renee's. She does great work, you should check her out! I saw my Designer Series Paper pack lying on the floor and the Melon Mambo sheets were laying on top, which is what triggered the start of this card. I used the "Tree Trimmings" stamp set for the focal point and "http://www.stampinup.com/ECWeb/SearchResults.aspx&dwbsdemoid=2047586" for the sentiment (one of my favorite go-to sentiment sets, btw).

A little bit of dazzle was added using a 2-way glue pen and some Dazzling Diamonds around the edge of one ornament and some of those fabulous Rhinestone Jewels on the opposite ornament.

Christmas Ceramic Tiles

For my Christmas Gift Giving class a couple of weeks ago I mentioned making ceramic tiles as one of the projects. Here is one of the tiles that I made. The gals made it out the door before I got a chance to snap photos of theirs. This is such a fast and easy gift to make and really inexpensive!

Mojo Monday 167

This week's Mojo Monday included 3 stars on it, but ironically I have every single Stampin' Up! punch except the star! Can you believe that? I should get it already. :) So I adapted the layout a little and placed a bow where the stars were supposed to be. Hey, there are no "rules" stating I can't interpret the layout on my own. ha ha And if you follow my blog or know me at all, then you know that "bows" are a rarity for me. I very rarely, if ever, put a bow on my card...I always use knots. Simply because I'm not a very good bow maker. :D Knots are so much easier for me and I learned a long time ago not to focus on the things you aren't good at, but dwell on those that you can excel at.

So, here's my Mojo Monday interpretation:






I'm sorry about the darkness on my pictures lately...one of my bulbs burned out for my photo tent, and I haven't had a chance to run to the store to get a replacement.